Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Having excessive, elaborate, and asymmetrical ornamentation: Describes a style, especially in art, architecture, or decoration, characterized by intricate, fanciful, and often excessive use of curves, scrolls, shells, and foliage motifs.
   • Excessively ornate or florid: Can describe anything (e.g., language, music, design) that is overly elaborate in a playful, light, and sometimes fussy manner.

2. Noun:

   • A style of art and architecture: A decorative style that originated in France in the early 18th century, following the Baroque period. It is characterized by lightness, elegance, and an exuberant use of curving, natural forms in ornamentation.
   • The specific ornamental features of this style: Refers to the fanciful, graceful, and asymmetric decorative elements typical of this period.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:

  • The room was decorated in a rococo style, with gilded mirrors and intricate stucco work.
  • His prose was criticized for being overly rococo, full of unnecessary flourishes.

• Noun:

  • The palace's interior is a prime example of Rococo.
  • She studied the transition from Baroque to Rococo in European art.

Advanced Usage

• Used metaphorically to describe any highly ornate, intricate, or old-fashioned system or idea.
  • The tax code is a rococo masterpiece of complexity.
• In art history, often contrasted with the more solemn, dramatic, and symmetrical Baroque style that preceded it.

Variants and Related Words

• Rocaille: (Noun) A key ornamental motif in Rococo, resembling rockwork or seashells.
• Rococoesque: (Adjective) Resembling or suggestive of the Rococo style.

Synonyms

• Adjective: Ornate, florid, baroque, elaborate, fussy, flamboyant.
• Noun: (Style) Late Baroque, .

Antonyms

• Adjective: Plain, austere, simple, minimalist, severe.
• Noun: (Style) Minimalism, functionalism.

Related Idioms and Phrases

• While there are no direct idioms using "rococo," the word itself is often used in phrases like "rococo extravagance" or "rococo detail" to emphasize excessive ornamentation.
  • The ceremony was planned with a rococo extravagance that seemed out of place.

Adjective

1. having excessive asymmetrical ornamentation
   • an exquisite gilded rococo mirror

Noun

1. fanciful but graceful asymmetric ornamentation in art and architecture that originated in France in the 18th century